Divided door for street-cars or other purposes.



J. B. BURDETTf DIVIDED DOOR FOR STREET CARS OR OTHER PURPOSES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.3Q,1910.

1,002,031. -Patented Aug. 29, 191i.

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\KILUMHIA PLANOGIAFII cu, wAsmNGTnN. n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN BURRUS BURDETT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO NATIONALPNEUMATIC COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

DIVIDED DOOR FOR STREET-CARS OR OTHER PURPOSES.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug. 29, 1911- Originalapplication filed July 25, 1908, Serial No. 445,393. Divided and thisapplication filed. September 30, 1910. Serial No. 584,593.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN B. Bunnnrr, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, county of Cook, State of Illinois, have made acertain new and useful Invention in Divided Doors for Street-Cars orother Purposes, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to divided doors, and the subject matter thereofis divided from my pending application Serial No. 445,393, filed July25, 1908.

The object of the invention is to provide a door divided into twoportions so arranged and connected that they move in differentdirections with respect to each other in opening or closing.

Other objects of the invention will appear more fully hereinafter.

The invention consists substantially in the construction, combination,location and relative arrangement of parts, all as will be more fullyhereinafter set forth as shown in the accompanying drawing, and finallypointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, and to the various views andreference signs appearing thereon,-Figure 1 is a View in side elevationof one end of a car, parts broken out, parts broken off, and parts insection, showing application of a divided door construction embodyingthe principles of my invention, and a form of interconnecting mechanismtherefor for operating the same, and showing in full lines the positionof the parts with the door closed, and in dotted lines the position ofthe parts with the door open. Fig. 2' is a broken transverse section onthe line 2, 2, Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows, with thedoor closed. Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic plan view of the end of the carshowing the arrangement of parts.

In the practical operation of street or other cars according to modernpractices and methods, it is becoming more and more desirable to provideinclosed platforms at the ends of the car, and to provide the platformwith side doors, in place of or in addition to the ordinary transversebulkhead doors between the platform and the car body. In constructingnew cars embodying this method and practice, it is customary to extendthe floor of the car body to the extreme ends of the car so that thefloors of the platforms at the ends of the car are on a level with thefloor of the car body and forms a continuation thereof. In this case theproblem of providing the vestibules or platforms at the ends of the carwith sliding doors so that such doors may slide into pockets formed inthe sides of the car, becomes easy of solution. In converting old stylecars with uninclosed platforms, into the inclosed platform type,however, a more diflicult problem is encountered since it is not onlynecessary to provide the platform with side doors, but it is alsonecessary to make proper provision for steps. Moreover, in mostinstances of old style cars the floors of the platforms are on a lowerlevel than the level of the floor of the car body.

In accordance with the principles of my invention, I propose to employ adivided door for the side of the car platform or vestibule of suchconstruction and arrangement that, when closed, completely incloses theplatform or vestibule, the upper portion of the door moving or slidingint-o a pocket formed in the side of the car, and the other or lowersection or portion of the door, independently mounted, moves or swingsdown at right angles to the direction of movement of the upper portion,to form a step, the lower level of the platform floor, with reference tothe floor of the car body, making it impractical for the entire platformside door to move or slide into a pocket in the side of the car body.

In the accomplishment of the objects and purposes of my invention,therefore, as above indicated, and in one practical embodiment thereof,as shown to illustrate the principles thereof, I employ a divided door,the upper portion mounted to slide in a plane parallel with that of theside of the car, while the lower portion is hinged so as to swingdownwardly into position for use as a step when the upper portion ismoved into its receiving pocket, and to swing upwardly into position tocooperate with the upper portion to close the platform or vestibule sidedoorway or opening, when such upper port-ion is moved into its closedposition.

If desired, and as shown, the two portions of the door may be soconnected as to be moved in unison with each other, and theinterconnecting means may be so arranged that the relative speeds ofmovement of the door sections or portion varies according to therelative positions thereof.

In the accompanying drawing I have indicated an illustrativeconstruction and arrangement exemplifying a practical application of adivided door embodying the principles of my invention to a street carwherein the floor of the platform at the end of the car is at a lowerlevel than the floor of the car body.

In the drawing reference numeral 5, designates the floor of the carbody; 6, the floor of the platform at the end of the car; 7, the upperportion of the divided door; and 8, the lower portion thereof. The lowerportion 8, of the door, is carried by castings or brackets 9, supportedupon a rock shaft 10, carried by hangers 11, depending from the underside of the platform adjacent the doorway in the side thereof, wherebywhen said shaft is rocked the lower section 8 of the door is rocked orswung into position for use as a step, or into position to cooperatewith the upper section 7, of the door to close the doorway, according tothe direction in which the shaft 10 is rocked. The upper section orportion 7, of the door may be supported in the ordinary manner of movingdoors, as, for instance, by means of hangers 12, in the case of asliding door, whereby it may slide into a pocket 13, formed in the sideof the car body to receive it. Any desired or well known form of dooroperating mechanism may be employed to move the door sections and tosecure the coincident action thereof. As illustrative of an operativeembodiment, I have shown a pivoted lever 14, slidably connected to thedoor section 7. By rocking lever 14:, the door section 7, is moved intoor out of closed position, according to the direction of operation ofthe lever, and when the door section .7 is in open position it isreceived in the pocket 13. The lever 14:, may be rocked by any suitablemeans, and the door sections 7, 8, may be connected together in anysuitable manner to secure the coincident movement thereof in differentplanes or directions. As shown an operating handle or lever 16 isprovided for manually rocking a bell crank arm 17, connected by a link18, with one arm of a bell crank lever 20, pivoted at 15, said operatinghandle or lever 16, being also connected to operate the door movinglever 14:. To another arm 21, of bell crank lever 20, is connected oneend of a link 22, said link being connected at its other end to a crankarm 23, on the rock shaft 10, whereby, when the operating lever 16 isrocked the lever 14:, is also rocked to shift or move the section 7 ofthe door, while at the same time the door section 8, is coincidentallymoved.

By the relation and arrangement of lever and link connections abovedescribed, it will be seen that the relative speeds of movement of thetwo sections of the door vary according to the positions of thesections. The section 7, of the door begins to move slowly but rapidlyaccelerates its speed until it approaches its closed psoition, when suchspeed is again reduced. So, too, in opening, the section 8 of the doorbegins its movement slowly and then accelerates but slows down again asit approaches its lowered position. This result is due to the crank armmovements and the shifting leverages exerted thereby according to theirarcs of movement.

My present invention, however, does not lie 7 in this mechanism, and Ido not claim the same herein, and consequently the specific constructionthereof may be varied and changed as may be desired without affectingthe nature and scope of my present invention as defined in the claims.

In practice I prefer to so arrange the link 18, that when the portion 7,of the door is in its open position, the point of connection of saidlink with the crank arm 17, will pass closely adjacent a line joiningthe axis of said crank arm and the point of connection of said link 18with the bell crank lever 20, as indicated in Fig. 1, thereby making theaction a substantially dead center action, so that when the portion 7 ofthe door begins to move toward its closed position a powerful action ofthecrank arm 17, is exerted to initiate the raising movement of the doorportion 8, this action, resulting from the crank arm moving off its deadcenter position, helps to overcome the weight of the door section 8, inmoving from its lowcred position. If desired, however, and in order toassist in balancing the weight of the door section 8, when in itslowered position, I may attach a spring 25, to the crank arm 20, throughwhich the section 8, of the door is operated, in such manner andrelation as to be put in tension when said door section is moved intoits lowered position.

As above noted my invention in its broadest scope, and as defined in theclaims is not to be limited in respect of the means em ployed to operatethe door sections,nor with respect to the point from which the operationof said sections is controlled, the arrangement shown being intendedmerely as an illustrative form of mechanism and relation of an operativeand practical application of my invention. The car platform or vestibulemay be separated from the body of the car by the usual doors 26, 27,which move structure, as the same forms the subject of my priorapplication Serial No. 445,393, from which the present application isdivided. But

Having now set forth the object and na ture of my invention, and aconstruction embodying the principles thereof, what I claim as new anduseful, and of my own invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patentis,

1. A door having a horizontally sliding portion, and a portion hinged toswing vertically on an axis extending in the direction of movement ofthe sliding portion, said hinged portion operating when in openposition, to form a step.

2. A door having an upper horizontally sliding portion and a lowervertically rocking hinged portion forming a step, and connectionsintermediate said portions whereby they move in unison, the lowerportion, in closed position, operating to render the door stepinaccessible.

8. A door having an upper portion mounted to slide horizontally, and alower portion mounted independently of the upper por- .tion to movevertically, the lower portion, in

opening, being moved into position to form a step.

4. A door having a sliding portion and a hinged portion, said hingedportion, in opening, being moved into position to form a step.

5. A door having one portion mounted to slide horizontally, and anotherportion independently mounted and hinged to rock vertically, and meansfor moving both portions simultaneously, said hinged portion, when movedto open position, forming a step.

6. Adoor having an upper portion mounted to slide, and a lower portionmounted to rock, said lower portion, when moved to open position,forming a step.

7. A door having a horizontally sliding portion and a vertically movingportion, connections between said portions to move the samesimultaneously, and means for counterbalancing one of said portions,said hinged portion, when moved to open position, forming a step.

8. A door having a horizontally sliding portion, and a verticallyrocking hinged portion, connections between said portions to move thesame simultaneously, and means for counterbalancing the hinged portion,said hinged portion, when moved to open position, forming a step.

9. A door having a horizontally sliding portion and a vertically rockinghinged portion, said portions connected to move in unison, and means forvarying the relative speeds of movement of said portions according tothe relative positions thereof, said hinged portion, when moved to openposition, forming a step.

10. A door having a sliding and a hinged portion, and connectionsintermediate said portionsarranged to reduce the speed of the hingedportion, in opening as it approaches its open position, said hingedportion, when moved to open position, forming a step.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of thesubscribing witnesses, on this 12th day of September A. D., 1910.

JOHN BURRUS BURDETT.

Witnesses:

LEMUEL M. SHIELDS, HARRY M. HEDGE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

